


Choice

by AdaMarina



Category: DuckTales (Cartoon 2017)
Genre: But he learns his lesson, Donald is a supportive nephew, Like kind of terribly, Oneshot, Scrooge is a bit selfish, Scrooge just wants his family to stay forever, semi-immortal AU, some things just don't work out
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-24
Updated: 2017-10-24
Packaged: 2019-01-22 08:13:05
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,139
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12477192
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AdaMarina/pseuds/AdaMarina
Summary: "Scrooge stared at his reflection in the water- stared long and hard. He didn’t look up at his nephews and niece as they relaxed beside the spring, but he didn’t need to. He knew Donald was glaring at a smirking Gladstone over a laughing Della’s head as she leaned over to look at her own reflection in the water.None of them were aware of exactly what they had just drunk."In which Scrooge knows he's being selfish, and Donald knows it too.





	Choice

**Author's Note:**

> Because no one knows Scrooge’s age, but he’s really old. Like... really old. And for some reason I really like the idea that Scrooge essentially found the fountain of youth (but not really because he’s still not young) and took his family there- but it only prevents you from dying of old age, it doesn’t make you immortal like the spring in Tuck Everlasting does.
> 
> In the comics Scrooge is... well, selfish. And I know in DT17 his selfish/greediness has been turned into a reckless thirst for adventure, so I’m slipping a bit of his selfish tendency in in a different form; Scrooge in both versions of DuckTales values his family. So maybe he, in a rather selfish manner, does not want to lose it.

The first time Scrooge went to the spring hidden deep in the desert, he had dragged his sister Hortense with him.

It was the first time he’d ever pulled her into one of his adventures. From the moment he read the ancient text he knew he had to take her, and he would have taken Matilda, too, if he knew where she was. After all, given the chance to have them stay with him forever- why wouldn’t he take it?

When they arrived at the spring he was the only one who knew what it was, and he didn’t speak up when Hortense took a drink from it. He didn’t give her that choice. Instead he stared at his reflection, wondering silently when his deception would come to light- would it be when his sister noticed she grew no older? Or would it be when she noticed everyone else growing older? Scrooge didn’t want to have that conversation, though- not then.

He was already well into his later years and Hortense was several decades younger than himself. The lack of aging would become obvious. Would she resent him for taking away her chance to grow old with someone? Scrooge wasn’t sure.

Many years passed before he told her the truth, after she confronted him about how her hair wasn’t turning grey, how she didn’t look a day over forty and Scrooge seventy. At the time Hortense didn’t seem to mind.

In fact, Hortense didn’t even argue when, after they found Matilda again- beautiful, little sister Matilda whose hair had turned grey with age- Scrooge returned to the spring a second time, taking her with him. Maybe it was selfish but his sisters were all he had left.

More years passed- several decades, in fact, and Scrooge knew the legends had not been exaggerating... and then Hortense met Quackmore. Suddenly, her long life seemed less of a gift and more of a curse, and Scrooge watched their romance blossom- a loud, angry romance, with strong words and what an unholy union that would be, he was sure, it’d certainly never last.

But it did.

She married him despite it all, and then two ducklings were hatched and Scrooge didn’t know how it would work or what effects the spring would have on the babies- what if they were babies forever? What if they inherited their mother’s longevity, somehow? But they didn’t- several months passed and he saw them growing just as steadily as their cousin Gladstone, two fine young ducklings, and Scrooge relaxed as he figured that the spring would only work for people who drank directly from it.

For a while, everything was fine. The ducklings- Donald and Della- were growing well and were as close as could be. It would be at least some years before Hortense’s immortality- for lack of a better word- became too obvious, and really if Hortense asked it of him he would take Quackmore there just so she could be happy.

The ducklings were barely four when Quackmore died suddenly- unexpectedly. Hortense was destroyed. She raged and yelled and cried, breaking things and blaming Scrooge- _“If you never made me drink that damn water!”_ and Scrooge didn’t have the heart to point out that if she never drank the water she never would have met Quackmore in the first place, she would have long since been dead.

Shortly after Scrooge discovered that aging might not have been possible- but they could die in other ways. He had his suspicions about the cause, but everyone chalked it up to a broken heart. The funeral was had, Matilda left without a word, and the twins were sent to live with Quackmore’s mother on her farm.

He felt utterly alone, but when the twins came to visit- sometimes accompanied by their cousin- things seemed to be a little more alive. Then Donald and Della began adventuring with him, and suddenly his adventures were fun again. He settled into his new life with his nephew and niece, living in the moments they shared and planning their future adventures.

Before he knew it those two ducklings were all grown up, and Donald went off to join the navy and Della went off to go to flying school, and he was left alone. A few more years passed before they came home for good- Donald discharged for reasons he wouldn’t explain and Della a full-fledged pilot.

He started getting nervous- Donald and Della looked so much older than they had when they were eighteen. They had grown into respectable ducks and were clearly adults, but watching them age before his very eyes was so... uncomfortable. And he had a terrible thought...

Would he end up all alone in the end?

* * *

_Scrooge stared at his reflection in the water- stared long and hard. He didn’t look up at his nephews and niece as they relaxed beside the spring, but he didn’t need to. He knew Donald was glaring at a smirking Gladstone over a laughing Della’s head as she leaned over to look at her own reflection in the water._

_None of them were aware of exactly what they had just drunk._

_He was doing it again. He knew he was- and he was afraid what had happened before would happen all over again. But this time he had a plan- this time he wouldn’t let someone else die._

_Donald would probably never forgive him when Scrooge tells him the truth- he’d be mad that Scrooge didn’t even give them a choice. Della would forgive him, though- in time. She would be more betrayed by the fact he didn’t tell them beforehand. Gladstone? Well, Gladstone only had himself to blame. He loved his nephew, sure, but Scrooge had only intended to take Donald and Della to the Spring- Gladstone just so happened to show up before they left and decided he wouldn’t mind an adventure, too._

_Scrooge couldn’t bring himself to say “no.” Whether it was because Gladstone was always left behind or the thought of having one more family member forever, Scrooge didn’t know. All he knew was, much to Donald’s irritation, he had said “yealright.”_

_Maybe Gladstone would regret his choice, when he found out the truth. Maybe he’d be mad that Scrooge didn’t say what the water would do. Maybe they would be mad enough to leave, like Matilda did._

_He didn’t like thinking these thoughts, so he excused himself and walked away to be alone._

_“Why do I keep doin’ this?” he asked, leaning against a tree and looking out towards the high dunes shielding the spring from sight._

_It was selfish. He wasn’t even giving them a choice. Maybe if he did they would have said yes, sure- but he was essentially robbing them of the chance to grow up._

_What if they fell in love, like Hortense did? What if they decided that they didn’t want to be twenty-four forever? It wasn’t fair to them._

_Scrooge closed his eyes and rubbed his forehead. It was so confusing- he felt so guilty, but at the same time he felt no shame._

_“I really am the greediest duck in the world,” he sighed, sliding down the tree so he was sitting._

_“Uncle Scrooge?”_

_Surprised, Scrooge opened his eyes and looked up at Donald. He was frowning, worry etched in his face._

_“Donald, lad, what are ye doin’ over here?” Scrooge asked him._

_His nephew hesitated just a moment before walking over to Scrooge, dropping down into the grass next to him. “I was getting tired of Gladstone being a jerk,” he answered. “Is something wrong, Uncle Scrooge? You look upset.”_

_He wondered how he could answer that question. After a few moments he decided to say, “The last time I was here I was with my sister Matilda. I was jus’ thinkin’ some things, is all, lad.”_

_Donald didn’t seem to believe him but he didn’t press further, instead looking towards the desert again. They sat in silence, the only sound Della and Gladstone chatting over by the water._

_Seconds turned to minutes. Then ten minutes. Then fifteen. Nearly a half hour passed before Donald spoke again._

_“I saw the journal, Uncle Scrooge.”_

_Scrooge’s heart almost stopped. “What, now?”_

_The younger duck looked at him seriously. “Before we came. Your journal was open to the page about this spring. I saw it.”_

_“So ye know what it does,” Scrooge said softly._

_“Yeah. I know.”_

_“Ye didn’t say anythin’ about it.”_

_“No, I didn’t.”_

_“Why?”_

_Donald fell silent again, as if considering his next words. Scrooge waited patiently for his nephew's answer._

_"I don’t know,” the younger finally said. “I was hoping you’d say something to us about it before we got here but you never did, and I guess I... just didn’t know when a good time to mention it was. Or how to bring it up." Donald looked at Scrooge again, meeting his gaze. “I get you don’t want to be alone, though. Maybe that’s why I played along.”_

Played along. _Those were the keywords there, and Scrooge knew in that moment that Donald went along with it not because eternal youth sounded appealing to him- and he was sure it didn’t, for the young sailor who had seen what old men and women could do- but because he wanted Scrooge to be happy._

_He couldn’t help but chuckle- a sad, mirthless sound, but a chuckle nonetheless. “Now how did the mos’ selfish duck in the world end up with the mos’ selfless nephew in the world?”_

_Donald had cracked a smile, equally mirthless, as he leaned against his own knees. “I wouldn’t say the most selfless. After all, I didn’t tell Della or Gladstone, either. So maybe your nephew is just as selfish as you are.”_

_Although he laughed with his nephew at those words, Scrooge silently disagreed. He knew, on some level, that Donald wasn’t nearly as selfish as he himself was._

_When Della disappeared a few years later, leaving behind three eggs in Donald’s care, he was proven right._

* * *

Scrooge watched Huey, Dewey, Louie and Webby from a window in the mansion. They were messing around in the swimming pool with Della and Launchpad, having a blast. They were safe, happy and healthy, but for some reason Scrooge couldn't bring himself to smile at the sight.

It had been several years since his great nephews had come to live at McDuck Manor and he could see them growing up into young men. They weren’t sixteen yet- not quite grown up- and were still very much children with a lot of growing up to do, but it was obvious that they weren’t the same children who had come to live with him those years ago.

He saw a lot of Donald and Della in them, honestly.

In just a few years they all would be leaving to lead their own lives, and deep down he could feel that desire starting to flare up- that desire to not let his family go. Della had finally come home and Gladstone had returned to Duckburg, having decided having his family close by was better than running around the world waiting for life to fall in his hands.

He didn’t want the triplets or even Webby to leave.

A hand fell on his shoulder. “Uncle Scrooge.”

“Donald,” he greeted without turning around. “Ye’re not usually in the mansion on a day like this.”

“I saw you watching the kids,” Donald admitted, hand still on Scrooge’s shoulder. “You had that look again.”

Scrooge closed his eyes, sighing. Donald hadn't forgotten that day at the spring, either. “They’re growin’ up.”

“Yeah, they are,” his nephew agreed. “I know it’s not easy. I don’t want them to grow up either. But...”

When Donald trailed off, Scrooge looked over at him. Donald was looking out the window now, a sad look in his eyes but a small smile on his face.

“It’s time to stop being selfish,” Donald said, not turning to meet his gaze. “Let them grow up, Scrooge.”

Scrooge looked back out the window, seeing those in the pool waving up at them. He smiled softly and waved back. _Not easy, indeed._

Maybe, Scrooge silently said to himself, maybe one day he would tell the boys and Webby about the spring. Maybe, when they questioned why Scrooge, Donald, Della and Gladstone never seemed to change- maybe, when they realized something wasn’t quite right about their family... maybe when they finally asked that vital question- _why?-_ Scrooge and his family could sit them down and tell them everything. Maybe they could give them a choice.

Maybe they would choose to stay. Maybe they would choose to grow.

Either way, Scrooge told himself, he’d let them choose this time.

Still, that selfish part of him hoped they would choose to stay.

**Author's Note:**

> What do Huey, Dewey, Louie and Webby choose, I wonder? That's up to you to decide.
> 
> Also this was written between 2 and 4 AM, forgive all of the mistakes TT_TT


End file.
